


clever magic

by CallicoKitten



Category: A Darker Shade of Magic - V. E. Schwab
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, oh shush you cant tell me you werent thinking the same thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-30
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-24 04:57:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4906357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallicoKitten/pseuds/CallicoKitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhy has always favoured the unusual, something that Kell is forever bemoaning him. </p><p>Of course, Rhy points out, that's why he was so fond of Kell in the first place. Why he made such a fuss about the Antari's inclusion in his little family. Why he always treated him as a brother rather than a ward.</p><p>And, of course, Rhy's taste for the unusual often extended to his bed partners - something Kell also wasn't impressed by - and that was where Holland came in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	clever magic

**Author's Note:**

> [shrugs]

Rhy has always favoured the unusual, something that Kell is forever bemoaning him.

Of course, Rhy points out, that's why he was so fond of Kell in the first place. Why he made such a fuss about the Antari's inclusion in his little family. Why he always treated him as a brother rather than a ward.

And, of course, Rhy's taste for the unusual often extended to his bed partners - something Kell _also_ wasn't impressed by - and that was where Holland came in.

Rhy could recall the precise moment he had met the other Antari, he had been but a child, sat beside his father's throne when Holland strode in. A few years older than Kell, tall, imposing. He had been less pale then, Rhy recalls, his hair more raven than charcoal, his green eye less milky.

Of course, Rhy had not decided he meant to _bed_ the Antari that day. He may have been a precocious child but he was not _that_ precocious. That decision was made later, the day he first saw Holland smile. Not that cold, hollow thing he threw about at court to intimidate and intrigue, but a proper, genuine smile.

It had been like watch lightning play across the stormy sky, the full moon emerging from behind darkened clouds. It had been utterly _entrancing_. By then Rhy had had his fair share of girls, his fair share of boys, but he had never felt a pull like _that._

Oh, it had taken time. Months, years. Waiting patiently for Holland to deliver a message, ensuring he at least got a few moments alone with him. With each meeting Rhy laid the seeds of his seduction, the kind of smiles that made grown women swoon, light touches (that at first made Holland stiffen but that he soon grew accustomed to.) He did this entirely out of view of Kell, of course. For obvious reasons.

But in time he felt Holland warm to him.

Well, perhaps not _warm,_ Rhy found it difficult to imagine Holland as warm, but every now and again he would shoot Rhy an almost playful look.

(A playful look that spoke of biting and nails and thrilled Rhy far more than he would ever care to admit.)

Of course, Holland did not make things _simple._

He caught on fast enough, corned Rhy one evening in the palace and whispered, "Don't think I don't know what game you're playing, little prince." Every word hissed intimately across Rhy's skin.

Rhy had smirked, "I should like it if I were not playing alone anymore."

And Holland had stepped away with a short huff of laughter.

(At least, Rhy assumed it was laughter. It was not a sound he had heard from Holland before, in any case.)

So began their game of cat and mouse. Though Rhy never had any illusions about Holland being the mouse in their situation.

-

When it finally did happen, Rhy found Holland pliant beneath his hands.

He was not submissive - not by any stretch of the imagination, he fought Rhy in his own way every step, gripping Rhy's hips hard enough to leave neat little bruises, bite marks that drew blood. He did not whine or whimper or make soft little noises like Rhy's previous bed partners, no. Holland only growled, only huffed out little bites of rough laughter against Rhy's mouth.

But he was content to let Rhy take the lead, to let Rhy explore.

To let Rhy kiss across his scarred arms and chest, to let Rhy pin him down.

-

Kissing Holland had been unlike anything Rhy had ever experienced. The magic had crackled and fizzled between them, thrumming through Holland - beneath Rhy's hands - like a second heartbeat.

It happened often enough that Rhy became accustomed to it.

It happened often enough that Rhy would often wake from dreams of pale, pale skin and a grey-green eye, aching not just with lust and want but _need._

He wondered how his parents would take if he announced he would like to take the Antari as his partner. He wondered how Kell would take it.

And then, with a small smile, he wondered how Holland would take it.

And then Holland gave him a necklace and any illusions (dreams, wraiths) he had about Holland being anything more than he was, were shattered rather abruptly.

-

"And Holland?" he asks, in the aftermath, while he and Kell lie abed together. He tries his best to sound unconcerned, brisk, political. It would not be so unusual for him to be asking after the other Antari, after all. (But he still worries that Kell can hear far more than Rhy would like him too.)

A dark look crosses Kell's features, dark and sad and regretful, "Dead," he says quietly. Rhy finds himself putting a hand on Kell's shoulder (too comfort, yes, but also to ground himself.) "I killed him."

"You did?"

Kell nods, "He was not in control," he continues. "Athos Dane had bound him. I think in the end it was a relief for him."

 _Oh,_ Rhy thinks. _Oh, oh, oh._

Was that it? Was he merely a toy for the Danes to play with through Holland's body?

Rhy feels sour. Rhy feels unwell.

"And he had no control at all?" he finds himself asking.

"No," Kell says. "He fought them as much as he could."

Rhy bites his lip, "You are certain he's dead."

Kell nods, "I can think of no way in which he survived."

Rhy falls silent.

-

Rhy tells himself that the ache in his chest for the next few weeks comes from Kell's binding spell.

Not even he believes it.

**Author's Note:**

> oh, holland totes survived.
> 
> they'll have an emotional reunion and kell will be all "the fuck bro?" it will be magical dont you tell me different.


End file.
